MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough slammed House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) “preposterous” comments against gun reform following a mass shooting in Maine that left 18 people dead.
On Wednesday, the same day Johnson was elected speaker, a gunman opened fire with an assault-style rifle at a bowling alley and a bar in Lewiston.
In an interview on Fox News Thursday, the Louisiana Republican said the problem is not guns, but “the human heart,” and argued it’s “not the time to be talking about legislation.”
On “Morning Joe” Friday, Scarborough noted that the human heart “is not made of steel, and it can’t repel the bullets.”
“Let me get confirmation from Katty,” he added, asking British-Swiss journalist Katty Kay. “Do they have human hearts in Britain and France and Germany and Spain? And by the way, do they have video games there? Do they have mental health problems?”
None of those countries have gun laws anywhere near as relaxed as the U.S., or gun ownership levels anywhere near as high. Mass shootings there are much rarer.
Later in the broadcast, Scarborough said Johnson knew he was being dishonest and “he knows that the United States has a problem unique to these types of shootings.”
“I can’t believe we actually have a politician that will say in 2023 after a shooting, now is not the time to talk about mass shootings,” he said.
Republican lawmakers — many of whom receive substantial campaign support from the gun lobby — have concocted myriad excuses for mass shootings over the years, blaming just about everything but the guns.
There have already been 566 mass shootings in the U.S. this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive’s tally.
Pointing to this figure, Scarborough wondered, if “now is not the time” to talk about it, when is it?
“There are no breaks in America anymore between mass shootings,” he said.
“We have more mass shootings in America every year than we have days in the year,” he added.
The suspect in the Maine shooting was still on the loose Friday morning.